“A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion,
does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.”
~ Buddha

“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen. In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation.”
“Science and religion will meet and shake hands…When the scientific teacher asserts that all things are the manifestation of one force, does it not remind you of the God of whom you hear in the Upanishads? Do you not see whither science is tending?”
~ Swami Vivekananda – “The Real and the Apparent Man”, 1894 lecture

“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness.
We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”
~ Max Planck, Nobel Prize-winning physicist

Impermanent ‘Reality’.
For millennia, mystic masters have revealed that in our space/time world all we see or seem is mental illusion, ‘samsara’ or ‘maya’ – like a very persistent day dream from which we can awaken, just as we awaken from nocturnal dreams.
Only for the past hundred years have quantum scientists begun confirming the mystics, and – like Einstein – recognizing that “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one” so that “our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
Both mystics and quantum scientists now say that all the forms we perceive and call “reality” are impermanent – ever appearing and disappearing beyond time and space; and that “consciousness is fundamental”.

“Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.”
~ Niels Bohr

“Samsara 3.0”: The Simulation Hypothesis.
In the 19th century Swami Vivekananda predicted Western scientific confirmation of the ancient Vedic non-dual philosophy of One Infinite Existence beyond relative reality: that “science and religion will meet and shake hands.”
Vivekananda’s 19th century prediction is more and more proving prescient in the 21st century. Gradually, what was formerly considered science fiction in the Matrix film Trilogy is becoming accepted as mainstream science theory.

“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena,
it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”
~ Nikola Tesla

In recent years many conventional scientists are now seriously entertaining – and some are accepting – what is widely known as “The Simulation Hypothesis”: that “reality” is like a computer-generated simulation.
In the Matrix film a hacker by the name of Neo – after digesting a revelatory “red pill” – awakens to discover that his entire world is a digital universe created by computers which have imprisoned the human race; that along with hundreds of thousands of other deluded souls he has been no more than a living ‘battery’ whose body has electrically been charging a computer simulation/dream in a digital virtual world.Proposed Scientific Experimental Research.
Visionary and ‘cutting edge’ engineer, inventor, and billionaire investor Elon Musk has recently said that there is only a “one in billions” chance that we’re not living like prisoners in a computer simulation; that what we experience as “reality” is in fact fabricated in a computer. Moreover Musk is concerned that we might accidentally destroy ourselves via catastrophically mistaken use of artificial intelligence (AI). So with other Silicon Valley billionaires he is investing to discover technological solutions, so we can ‘escape’ from imprisonment or harm in a theoretical matrix-like computer simulation.
Unlike Musk, spiritual physicist, author and lecturer Thomas W. Campbell, sees humans as immortal souls and asserts that we are about to prove scientifically that humans are living and learning Love in a digitally pre-programmed matrix – a virtual or simulated ‘soul-school reality’.Ron’s Views.

“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”
~ Ecclesiastes 1:9 (attributed to King Solomon)

From my perspective, what many scientists are now calling “The Simulation Hypothesis” is just another name for what the ancient Masters called samsara or maya. So I call it “Samsara 3.0”.
After years as a self-described “born-again Hindu”, I became and remain “an Uncertain Undo” – an auto-didactic ‘student of life’ matriculating on “the Earth branch of the Great Cosmic University”. Ultimately – like Thomas Campbell – I have intuited that:

“We are all students,
And we are all teachers.
We are all learning LOVE.”
“Gleaning meaning in matter,
We are all learning that
all that matters – is
LOVE!”

And like Campbell, I optimistically believe that as eternal spirits we have nothing to fear but fright, because Life is indestructible and eternal.
I agree with Swami Vivekananda’s prediction that science and religion will soon concur on the ONENESS of phenomenal “reality” ; and I believe that, realizing such ONENESS, Humanity will at long last discard destructive illusionary beliefs and behaviors which have brought our space/time ‘Love-learning-laboratory’ to the apparent brink of ecologic and economic disaster.
Further I am experientially persuaded of the timeless verity of Eastern philosophical teachings that we unavoidably suffer in this space/time world of duality and causality – from unskillful thoughts, words and deeds, which are subject to law of karma – until realizing the true non-duality nature of Reality, self and all phenomena, as Eternal LOVE.Conclusion.
Regardless of how we may explain or theorize about the reasons for human suffering, we can agree that we are living in extraordinarily challenging times with much worldwide suffering.
May we collectively try to help solve problems which cause such suffering by uplifting and expanding human consciousness on our precious planet Earth with our peaceful and compassionate thoughts, words and deeds.
And so may it be!“The Simulation Hypothesis” recommended documentary video.
The foregoing essay – like all other SillySutras.com writings and audio video materials – is offered for our further reflection and consideration. For those interested, an online search of “The Simulation Hypothesis” will yield many written and audio-visual results mainstreaming the Matrix.
One of the very best free online resources is the highly recommended 50 minute documentary film titled “The Simulation Hypothesis” embedded below.

“Everything flows and nothing abides, everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.”
~ Heraclitus (c.540 – c.475 BC)
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
~ Lao-Tzu
“That nothing is static or fixed, that all is fleeting and impermanent, is the first mark of existence. It is the ordinary state of affairs. Everything is in process. Everything—every tree, every blade of grass, all the animals, insects, human beings, buildings, the animate and the inanimate—is always changing, moment to moment.”
~ Pema Chodron
“Somehow, in the process of trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. We tend to forget that we are part of the natural scheme of things.”
~ Pema Chodron
“[T}he recognition of the impermanence of all forms awakens you to
the dimension of the formless within yourself, that which is beyond death. Jesus called it “eternal life.” ….It leads to…. nonresistance, non-judgment, and non-attachment .. the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living.”
~ Eckhart Tolle – A New Earth (edited)
“The words “This, too, will pass” are pointers toward Reality. In pointing to the impermanence of all forms, by implication, they are also pointing to the eternal. Only the eternal in you can recognize the impermanent as impermanent.”
~ Eckhart Tolle – A New Earth
“Life always bursts the boundaries of formulas.”
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“Corporeality is transient, feeling is transient, perception is transient, mental formations are transient, consciousness is transient.
And that which is transient, is subject to suffering; and of that which is transient and subject to suffering and change, one cannot rightly say:`This belongs to me; this am I; this is my Self’.
Therefore, whatever there be of corporeality, of feeling, perception, mental formations, or consciousness, whether past, present or future, one’s own or external, gross or subtle, lofty or low, far or near, one should understand according to reality and true wisdom: `This does not belong to me; this am I not; this is not my Self’.”
~ Gautama Buddha
“This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds. To watch the birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance. A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky, rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain.”
~ Gautama Buddha
“A corporeal phenomenon, a feeling, a perception, a mental formation, a consciousness, which is permanent and persistent, eternal and not subject to change, such a thing the wise men in this world do not recognize; and I also say that there is no such thing.”
~ Gautama Buddha
“The First thing to understand about the universe is that no condition is “good” or “bad.” It just is. So stop making value judgments. The second thing to know is that all conditions are temporary. Nothing stays the same, nothing remains static. Which way a thing changes depends on you.”
~ Neale Donald Walsch
“In the beginning was Atman; the one without a second.” . . .
“We are like the spider.
We weave our life and then move along in it.
We are like the dreamer who dreams and then lives in the dream.
This is true for the entire universe.”
~ Aitareya Upanishad

Ron’s Comments on Permanent Impermanence.
Only in the past century have quantum physicists confirmed what the Buddhas, saints and sages discovered and have revealed for millennia: that in this world everything is impermanent.
Every appearance is in a constant state of flux or ‘flow’; so everything that appears, disappears; every form eventually melts into mystery. [Not even ‘diamonds are forever’.]
Since Einstein’s groundbreaking theory of relativity, quantum scientists have confirmed that in this world of space/time duality and causality everything is energy; that every form and phenomenon, whether or not perceptible or measurable, is ephemeral; so, that this is a world of permanent impermanence.
Yet, paradoxically, in our polarity/duality ‘reality’, it is only the immutable Eternal – ever imminent in all manifestation – which can recognize and realize that every appearance is impermanent, and that eternal Cosmic consciousness is Ultimate Non-duality Reality.
Hence the worldly Persian adage “This, too, will pass”, reflecting on the evanescence of the human condition, contradictorily points us toward ultimate Reality, because it is only That unchanging Eternal Awareness invisibly imminent in each of us which can recognize that everything which appears will pass.
Only after my spiritual awakening, and gradual exposure to Eastern mystical philosophy, did I begin to reflect on the crucial importance of experientially realizing the dream-like impermanence of this world; that Earth life can be likened to an ephemeral mental mirage from which we suffer until awakening to our true Eternal self identity and the non-dual essence of all phenomena.
Such philosophy teaches that we unavoidably suffer in this transient world of samsara or maya until realizing the true nature of self and all phenomena. Knowingly or subconsciously everyone seeks eternal peace and happiness. But that is impossible in this world where no pleasure is forever. So our unavoidable suffering – from unskillful thoughts, words and deeds, which are subject to law of karma – is a cosmic ‘incentive system’ impelling us to overcome ignorance and discover our true non-duality self-identity and ‘reality’ – Eternal LOVE.
Suffering ends when ignorance ends; ignorance ends with experiential Self knowledge that we are Infinite Potentiality beyond conception, rather than ego-identified mortal and limited entities.
While meditating on these ideas, I began discovering, appreciating and writing about apt scriptural and other authoritative quotations, like those cited above.
May they help us find ever expanding happiness as we less and less identify as mortally ephemeral entities and more and more identify as Eternally immutable Awareness ever imminent in everything/everyone everywhere.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner

“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein

Sri Anandamayi Ma

This “Women in Art” viral video (below) creatively morphs together portraits of different unique beings, with a Bach cello musical background.
Apart from its exceptional artistic beauty and creativity, this video can be experienced as a metaphor for our ever evolving and expanding human consciousness.
From seeing everyone and everything as discrete and separated by apparently immutable boundaries, we are gradually realizing that everyone/everything is connected by our common essence:
ever-changing energy in a matrix of immutable Awareness.
Thus, we are evolving into the light of creation: from a Newtonian “reality” of polarized duality, to a quantum “reality” of holistic connectedness; from either this or that, to this and that are ONE.
And so shall it be!Women In Art video:

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness
that created it. ”
~ Albert Einstein

“The release of atom power ..changed everything except our way of thinking…
the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind.”
~ Albert Einstein

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
~ King Solomon – Proverbs 23:7

“I think with intuition. The basis of true thinking is intuition.
Indeed, it is not intellect, but intuition which advances humanity.
Intuition tells a man his purpose in life.
One never goes wrong following his feelings. . . . for feelings and intuition are one.”
~ Albert Einstein

“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein

“A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.”
~ Albert Einstein

“Humanity is evolving out of the box and into the light of creation.”
~ Ellie Crystal

Individually and societally, humankind have been caught in a box –
a psychological box created by mistaken perceptions and ideas
of separation from Nature and each other.
We’ve mistakenly regarded ourselves and others as mere limited entities, rather than as limitless souls – spirit drops in an infinite ocean of Eternal LIght. And, our worldviews have been mostly based on such unrealistically limited ideas of who and what we are.
Thereby, individually we’ve been caught in a mistaken self-identity box;
and societally we’ve been “boxed in” by an outmoded Newtonian pre-quantum worldview. Though quantum science now knows that “reality” can’t be reduced to objects or entities in space, we’ve kept acting as if this is so.
We’ve thus been self-limited by our mistaken ideas of reality and of our true identities, powers and possibilities – which are infinite, though yet largely unknown and unrealized.
But, spurred by critical inter-personal and planetary crises, and blessed with an intuitive evolutionary impetus in each us, more and more people are realizing their true spiritual nature and awakening with compassion from their imagined limitations.
From seeing everyone and everything as discrete and separated by apparently immutable boundaries, we are gradually realizing that everyone/everything is connected by our common essence:
ever-changing energy in a matrix of immutable awareness.
We are evolving from a Newtonian “reality” of polarized duality
to a quantum “reality” of holistic connectedness; from either this or that, to this and that are ONE. And so we are beginning to envision, intuit and implement ‘Out Of The Box’ solutions to current crises.
And as we evolve ‘Out Of The Box’ and into the Light of creation,
we shall soon reach a critical mass tipping point which uplifts human consciousness to transcend and resolve crises created by outmoded and illusionary beliefs.
And so it shall be!Ron’s commentary on evolving out of the box and into the light of creation.
Dear Friends,
Ever aware that “no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it”, I have often wondered how individually and societally we can most effectively elevate human consciousness to resolve critical interpersonal and international planetary problems. And I’ve concluded that we each need to be ever more loving and compassionate; that our individual love is ‘contagious’ and will bless and change the world as it inevitably spreads to others, until ultimately we reach a ‘critical mass’ tipping point triggering new societal worldview solutions to old problems.
So seven years ago I optimistically predicted in the foregoing essay that “we shall soon reach a critical mass tipping point which uplifts human consciousness to transcend and resolve crises created by outmoded and illusionary beliefs.”
Yet paradoxically – especially since the 2016 ‘red pill’ election of Donald J. Trump as US President – it appears we may now be nearer than ever before to ecological or nuclear disaster, potentially portending destruction of Earth life as we have known it. So we urgently need new human worldviews to avert such disaster.
A century has passed since quantum science revealed to us that “reality” can’t be reduced to objects or entities in space. Yet we’ve kept acting as if this is so – clinging to a false Newtonian materialistic worldview that sees everyone and everything as discrete and separated by apparently immutable boundaries.
Three generations have passed since immensely destructive nuclear weapons were first developed and savagely used by the American Empire against innocent civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet these dreadful weapons have proliferated worldwide and threaten our precious planet more than ever before. In a May 1946 letter to prominent Americans, Albert Einstein wrote: “The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.”
Einstein foresaw that such “unparalleled catastrophe” could be averted only from levels of consciousness beyond those which created it; thus he observed that “the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind.”
After much deep reflection, and with unspeakable faith in LOVE as the Heart of all Humans, I have today intuitively reposted the foregoing essay with my ‘utopian’ prophesy of Humankind’s transcendence of current cataclysmic threats to life on Earth.
Perhaps I’m a crazy “cockeyed optimist”, but I still foresee the beginning a new age which will advance the highest good for all life on our precious planet; I’m still “stuck like a dope with a thing called hope, and I can’t get it out of my heart!”
Perhaps we are yet karmically destined to experience unprecedented ‘hard times’. But such suffering can be like a ‘red pill’ triggering a ‘breakdown breakthrough’ to a new worldview transcending the outmoded and illusionary beliefs which created current crises.Optimism optimizes opportunity. So I optimistically ask that you join with me so that together we – each from our unique intuitive perspective – may fearlessly follow our hearts to ‘contagiously’ bless all Life as LOVE.
With quiet minds and open hearts may we thereby honor the ONE spiritual essence of everyone/everything/ everywhere by uplifting human consciousness to transcend and resolve crises created by outmoded and illusionary worldview beliefs.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner

“Everything depends on everything else. Nothing exists on its own.
On account of all the influences that come to bear upon them, things appear, exist, and disappear, and then reappear again. But they never exist independently.”
~ Dalai Lama – Little Book of Inner Peace

“When it can be said by any country in the world, my poor are happy, neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them, my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars, the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive, the rational world is my friend because I am the friend of happiness. When these things can be said, then may that country boast its constitution and government.”
~ Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein

With malice toward none, and with empathy for all,
Let us end the iniquity of inequity in our society,
So “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth”.~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings – inspired by Abraham Lincoln

“I believe that to meet the challenge of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind.”
~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“We are all cells in the body of humanity — all of us, all over the world. Each one has a contribution to make, and will know from within what this contribution is, but no one can find inner peace except by working, not in a self-centered way, but for the whole human family.”
~ Peace Pilgrim

“When one realizes that life, even in the middle of so many contradictions, is a gift, that love is the source and the meaning of life, how can they withhold their urge to do good to another fellow being?”
[W]e all need each other, none of us is an island, an autonomous and independent “I,” separated from the other . . . .we can only build the future by standing together, including everyone.. . . .
[E]verything is connected, and we need to restore our connections to a healthy state.
~ Pope Francis – 2017 TED Talk

On July 4, 1776, thirteen American colonies declared their independence from British rule, in an historic document written by Thomas Jefferson. The philosophy of their Declaration of Independence was that under “the laws of nature and of nature’s God” government is established by people to secure their life, liberty, and happiness, and is to be overthrown as illegitimate if it no longer does that. The US founding fathers recognized, that governments and their chartered organizations do not exist by Divine right; they are established by people to serve people – not to exploit or oppress them – and they are illegitimate unless they serve human rights and happiness.
Since 1776, “the laws of nature and of nature’s God” still prevail, but the world has changed immensely: The thirteen North American colonies have become the richest most powerful nation in world history – an American empire much vaster than the British empire which it succeeded. Human population has grown meteorically, from approximately 800 million (with 2.5 million people inhabiting American colonies) to over 7.4 billion and growing rapidly. Through amazing technological and scientific advances the world has become much smaller and most people have become part of an instantly interconnected and largely interdependent global community, sharing critical information in an unprecedented new age of world-wide ecologic, economic, political and social crises and opportunities.
Most severe global crises have been caused by inequitable governmental laws and policies which do not serve human rights and happiness, and by powerful transnational corporations which unsustainably exploit our precious planet, while prioritizing profits over people and often evading equitable taxation. Within the spirit of the 1776 Declaration of Independence such laws and policies are illegitimate and must democratically be ended through societal recognition of the oneness of humanity and universal responsibility to benefit all humankind and all life.
Thus, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said:

“In our world, we need a clear awareness of the interdependent nature of nations, of humans and animals .. Everything is of interdependent nature. .. [M]any problems, especially man-made problems, are due to lack of knowledge about this interdependent nature.”
“Today’s world requires us to accept the oneness of humanity. In the past, isolated communities could afford to think of one another as fundamentally separate. Some could even exist in total isolation. But nowadays, whatever happens in one region eventually affects many other areas. Within the context of our interdependence, self-interest clearly lies in considering the interest of others.
“I believe that to meet the challenge of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind.”

As Americans commemorate their political independence from tyrannical rule, it is appropriate that we deeply reflect on current planetary crises, inequities, and opportunities, in light of the egalitarian principles which launched the US nation in 1776. Such reflection will reveal that in today’s small world, we can best promote our own lives, liberty, and happiness – individually and corporately – by recognizing our “universal responsibility to work not just for our own self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind.”
To that end, let us join with our wholehearted intentions and appropriate actions to end unsustainable exploitation of our precious planet and the iniquity of global inequity, in the spirit of the following global declaration of interdependence sponsored by We The World:

We, the people of planet Earth,
In recognition of the interconnectedness of all life
And the importance of the balance of nature,
Hereby acknowledge our interdependence
And affirm our dedication
To life-serving environmental stewardship,
The fulfillment of universal human needs worldwide,
Economic and social well-being,
And a culture of peace and nonviolence,
To insure a sustainable and harmonious world
For present and future generations.

You tube link to Crossroads: Labor Pains of a New Worldview: Our urgent need for a new interdependent worldview – how we need to collectively change our minds to change our world – is expertly explained and portrayed in this excellent one hour documentary movie, already viewed online by over one million concerned people. Ron’s Commentary: Independence is Impossible
For everyone concerned about the American empire’s alleged ‘exceptionalism’, this is an opportune time for deep reflection on our ideas and ideals of independence – societally and individually. Such reflection is especially appropriate in these troubled times of worldwide turmoil and violence, with ecologic, economic, international and interpersonal crises everywhere.
The foregoing essay is dedicated to promoting our deep reflection and realization that independence is impossible; that everyone/everything is interconnected and interdependent; so that no-one/nothing exists permanently or independently. Please consider it.
Ignorantly believing ourselves to be separate and independent entities, we mistakenly act fearfully and selfishly – rather than lovingly and generously – and thereby we create disharmony with Nature’s way, and critical problems for all life on our precious planet.
Individually and collectively, we urgently need to embrace an interdependent worldview, as explained and portrayed in the foregoing “Crossroads” video.
We cannot change others. But by revolutionarily transcending and replacing our mistaken beliefs of separateness and independence, and our consequent harmful behaviors, together we can and will democratically change the world.
And so it shall be!
Ron Rattner

Thus, as Einstein observed:“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
Subject and object are mere ways of thinking –
perceptual/conceptual projections of Cosmic Consciousness,
which is our true Self.

As twentieth century Indian sage Sri Ramana Maharshi observed:“Consciousness is always Self-Consciousness.
If you are conscious of anything,
you are essentially conscious of yourself.”

Ron’s Subject-Object Commentary:
This “Subject-Object?” essay points to our spiritually limiting illusory belief that we are separate “subjects” observing separate “objects” in space/time.
Cosmically, as Einstein observed, “Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
Due to non-locality of space/time ‘reality’, perceived subjects and objects are not separated, but connected. All perceptions require projected subjective consciousness, which is immeasurable. So all perceptions are subjective projections of ONE immeasurable consciousness.
Thus everything perceived everywhere is an impermanent holographic energy form of projected consciousness. Yet we mistakenly believe in objectivity of what we subjectively project and perceive.
Like most Westerners I grew up culturally imbued with mistaken ideas and ideals of “objectivity” of our scientific, academic, journalistic and judicial institutions – of which as an adult I was soon disabused.
And after my midlife spiritual awakening, I began to realize that objectivity is an illusory impossibility; that the idea of objectivity refers only the measurable material world of forms and phenomena, which mistakenly excludes consciousness – the ultimate immeasurable Reality and source of all perceptions.
Despite discoveries in quantum physics, for the past century most materialistic mainstream scientists have remained reluctant to recognize the impossibility of scientifically ‘objective’ accuracy in describing Nature through measurement without reference to immeasurable consciousness.
Yet more and more visionary scientists have seen and transcended this mistaken materialist view. As explained by Nobel prize winning physicist Max Planck:

“Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of Nature.
And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.”

The foregoing essay is offered to encourage our deep ‘subjective’ reflection and recognition that humankind – and all of its institutions – are part of Nature with which we must mindfully and reverentially be ever harmonious.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner

“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think”
~ Albert Einstein

“According to the Advaita philosophy, ..this Maya or ignorance–or name and form, or, as it has been called in Europe, time, space, and causality–is out of this one Infinite Existence showing us the manifoldness of the universe; in substance, this universe is one. So long as any one thinks that there are two ultimate realities, he is mistaken. When he has come to know that there is but one, he is right. This is what is being proved to us every day, on the physical plane, on the mental plane, and also on the spiritual plane.”
~ Swami Vivekananda – Jnana Yoga: The Yoga of Knowledge

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”;
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live, they are modes in which we think”.
~ Albert Einstein

“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”
~ Max Planck, Nobel Prize-winning physicist

“The very study of the physical world leads to the conclusion that …. consciousness is an ultimate reality and, all the possible knowledge, concerning objects can be given as its wave function”
~ Eugene Wigner, Nobel laureate physicist and co-founder of quantum mechanics

“That which is impenetrable to us really exists. Behind the secrets of nature remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion.” ….“Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe.”
~ Albert Einstein

Have you ever wondered what is really “real”?
Or what isn’t “real”?
Is your “reality” only physical, measurable, perceptible, or comprehensible?
Where does this “reality” end and ‘unreality’ begin – if anywhere?
Our ideas of reality are crucial. Knowingly or unknowingly they deeply affect our beliefs about who and what we are; and, our beliefs about who and what we are determine our behaviors, our experiences and philosophies of life, both individually and societally.
Thus, reality paradigms which do not recognize our essential Unity with Nature and all its life-forms have proved environmentally, economically, internationally and inter-personally disastrous.

“…this separation between man and man, between nation and nation, between earth and moon, between moon and sun. Out of this idea of separation between atom and atom comes all misery. But the Vedanta says that this separation does not exist, it is not real.”
~ Swami Vivekananda

How different would be our behaviors if we truly realized and always remembered that we are part of Nature, deeply connected and unified with all life-forms; that our apparent separation from each other and Nature is a perceptual illusion?

“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.” .
~ Albert Einstein

As Jesus told us, with faith human potentialities are unlimited:

“All things are possible for one who believes.”
~ Mark 9:23

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
~ Matthew:17-20

But limited ideas about reality are conceptual cages confining us in a kind of psychological prison, restricting realization of our unlimited potentialities.
Culturally, our concepts of “reality” are an unspoken consensus abstraction dependent upon predominantly shared beliefs about what is “real”.

“Reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know.”
~ Alan Watts
“Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.”
~ Lily Tomlin

Until now, most of us have been unconsciously acculturated and indoctrinated with limiting ideas of self-identity and “reality”, without ever reflecting upon or intuiting who or what we really are and what’s really real.
Our ideas about “reality” – both individually and societally – differ with different people at different times and different places.
But beyond our ever changing and relative ideas of manifest “reality”, is there is a transcendent ultimate Reality – which is the eternal Source of relative reality? Beyond thought can we experience such ultimate Reality?
In universally seeking happiness, doesn’t everyone knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or subconsciously, remember and intuitively long for the experience of Divine Oneness?
Mystical “inner explorers” have answered all of the foregoing questions affirmatively. Mystics – from both East and West – have for millennia reported their discovery of ONE ultimate, unchanging non-duality Reality; THAT which is beyond definition, comprehension or imagination – yet, everywhere invisibly imminent in and source of our space/time polarity/causality relative reality.

“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen…In the Absolute there is neither time, space, nor causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
“Though One, Brahman is the cause of the many… Brahman is the unborn (aja) in whom all existing things abide. The One manifests as the many, the formless putting on forms.”
~ Rig Veda
“All things come out of the One and the One out of all things.”
~ Heraclitus, 500BC
“Reality cannot be found except in One single source, because of the interconnection of all things with one another.”
~ Leibniz, 1670
“We are a part of Nature as a whole whose order we follow.”
~ Spinoza, Ethics, 1673

And now more and more scientists are agreeing with the mystics. Matter has melted into Mystery. Physics and metaphysics are merging.
Both science and spirituality agree that the universe is undivided Wholeness.
And for some Quantum physicists – like Nobel laureate Max Planck – beyond “uncertainty” about reality of “matter” there is only consciousness and Divinity.

“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”
~ Max Planck, as quoted in The Observer (25 January 1931)
“There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter. ”
~ Max Planck, Nobel Prize-winning physicist
“Both Religion and science require a belief in God. For believers, God is in the beginning, and for physicists He is at the end of all considerations… To the former He is the foundation, to the latter, the crown of the edifice of every generalized world view.”
~ Max Planck, Nobel Prize-winning physicist – Religion and Natural Science (Lecture Given 1937) Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers, trans. F. Gaynor (New York, 1949), pp. 184

Thousands of years ago, Eastern seers called this permanently impermanent and ever changing world of countless forms and phenomena a dreamlike illusion, maya or samsara; a mere projection of the One Reality – of Infinite and Eternal Existence.

“The world, indeed, is like a dream and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage! Like the apparent distances in a picture, things have no reality in themselves, but they are like heat haze.”
~ Buddha
“A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.”
~ Buddha

Einstein intuited that:

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

And now other scientists are agreeing with mystics and affirming Einstein’s observation about the illusion of physical “reality”.
For example, distinguished quantum physicist David Bohm has questioned any objective tangible reality. Bohm theorized that the universe is fundamentally like a gigantic hologram; that underlying apparent reality is a deeper order of existence, from which all the objects and appearances of our physical world arise and appear in much the same way that a two dimensional holographic film gives birth to a three dimensional hologram in space.

What appears to be a stable, tangible, visible, audible world, is an illusion. It is dynamic and kaleidoscopic — not really “there”. What we normally see is the explicit, or unfolded, order of things, rather like watching a movie. But there is an underlying order that is mother and father to this second-generation reality.
~ David Bohm

Until his death in 1955, Einstein maintained his intuitive view, consistent with ancient mystical insights but challenged by quantum physicists, that “God does not play dice with the universe”; that the principle of cause and effect (or karma) pervades the phenomenal Universe without exception; that the ideas of chance or “uncertainty” arise from causes not yet recognized or perceived.
Since Einstein’s death, some physicists like David Bohm have advanced theories which reconcile apparent contradictions between universal “causality” and quantum “uncertainty” and “non-locality” and they are thereby ever narrowing remaining apparent disparity between scientific and mystical views of “reality”.

“Science and religion will meet and shake hands…When the scientific teacher asserts that all things are the manifestation of one force, does it not remind you of the God of whom you hear in the Upanishads? Do you not see whither science is tending?”
~ Swami Vivekananda, London talk, 1896

As presciently envisioned by Swami Vivekananda, science and religion will ultimately agree on the ONENESS of phenomenal “reality”. And realizing such ONENESS, Humanity will at long last – as it must – discard destructive illusionary beliefs and behaviors which have brought it to the brink of ecologic, economic, inter-personal and international disaster.

“Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.”
~ Niels Bohr

“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena,
it will make more progress in one decade
than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”
~ Nikola Tesla

Thereupon, Humankind and all other life-forms on our precious planet, will harmoniously and peacefully flourish and evolve with Nature.
And so it shall be!

“When the mind is completely empty – only then is it capable of receiving the unknown.” …… “Only when the mind is wholly silent, completely inactive, not projecting, when it is not seeking and is utterly still – only then that which is eternal and timeless comes into being.”
~ J. Krishnamurti

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift
and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society
that honors the servant
and has forgotten the gift.”
~ Albert Einstein

“I think with intuition. The basis of true thinking is intuition.
Indeed, it is not intellect, but intuition which advances humanity.”
~ Albert Einstein

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
~ Albert Einstein

“The heart has its reasons which reason cannot know.”
“We know truth not by reason only, but by the heart”
“It is the heart which feels God, not the reason.
This then is faith: God felt by the heart, not by the reason”
~ Blaise Pascal

“Faith is different from proof;
the latter is human, the former is a gift from God.”
~ Blaise Pascal

To think or not to think,
that is the question!
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

Forget who you think you are
to Know what you really are.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“It is only the innocent mind . . . unclouded by experience, totally free from the past; . . . that can perceive what is reality.”
~ J. Krishnamurti

“Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of our daily existence and activity. Thought is time. Thought is born of experience and knowledge which are inseparable from time and the past. Time is the psychological enemy of man. Our action is based on knowledge and therefore time, so man is always a slave to the past. Thought is ever-limited and so we live in constant conflict and struggle. There is no psychological evolution.”
~ J. Krishnamurti

J. Krishnamurti

Cartesian Critique.

Descartes deduced his presumed separate existence with thought.
He reasoned: “I think, therefore I am”.
But wasn’t that putting Descartes before his Source?
Isn’t it apparent that we exist when not thinking?
Isn’t thinking optional, while Being is perpetual?
Why are we called human “beings”, and not human “thinkings”?
Isn’t existence much more than just thinking?
Don’t we exist in thoughtless states?
Doesn’t Being encompass conscious and subconscious
phenomena beyond thought – like emotions, feelings, sounds,
tastes, sensations, moods, dreams, autonomic processes, etc.?
Don’t all thoughts comprise and concern past ideas,
whereas life is ever lived in the Now,
never in the past or the future?
Aren’t we most aware of our existence
when we are thoughtlessly/choicelessly mindful?
What might Descartes say,
if he were here today?

Ron’s Commentary on Confusing Thinking With Being.

Dear Friends,
This essay/poem questioning René Descartes’ famous philosophical proposition: “I think therefore I am.” was written during an extended period of inner reflection following my midlife change of life. Not until then did I ever wonder about how we mistakenly self identify dualistically with the body/mind’s thoughts and story rather than its existential awareness.
Prior to my spiritual opening, I was most influenced and impressed by the world’s “great thinkers”, such as learned philosophers, professors, authors, authorities, and PhD ‘experts’.
But after my spiritual opening and discovery of Eastern non-dualistic mysticism – and especially after meeting my beloved Guruji, Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas – I became and remain most inspired by the world’s greatest non-thinkers: mystics, intuitives and shamans from East, West and indigenous spiritual traditions, and those who in secular life acted humbly, intuitively, and authentically – like my heroes Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Einstein.
Guruji dropped out of school as a child and read very few books during his long life as mostly a wandering sadhu. Yet he was amazingly enlightened, pragmatically wise, intuitive, and prescient and could explain a wide variety of esoteric issues well beyond ordinary scholarly learning. Once when I asked him about an Indian pundit/professor then lecturing in the Bay Area, Guruji replied that the pundit was a very nice man – a “book yogi”.
Guruji’s “book yogi” comment piqued my curiosity about the difference between ‘book yogis’ and meditation yogis like Guruji. Soon I began learning to distinguish experiential learning from conceptual learning and belief; and I prioritized learning from life’s experiences rather than from beliefs, concepts or customs inculcated or acculturated by others. Thus I began to seek relief from belief.
By following Guruji’s instructions to ‘meditate regularly’ I learned that our existence is not dependent upon thinking; that by being “here NOW” with a stilled and thoughtless mind, we can intuitively access inner wisdom ordinarily obscured by ‘the voice in the head’; and, that our intuition facilitates and allows important insights not otherwise attained through worldly logic.
Thus I deeply concur with Albert Einstein’s observation that:“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
~ Albert Einstein
Today’s post is offered to remind us to not confuse thinking with being; that Life persists perpetually whether or not we are thinking. And to help remind us to honor and to prioritize our heart’s “sacred gift” of intuition over the rational mind – our “faithful servant”.
May we may thereby be enabled to experientially confirm Blaise Pascal’s foregoing quoted assertion that “It is the heart which feels God, not the reason.”

Faith is the highest passion in a human being.
Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further.
~ Soren Kierkegaard

“On a long journey of human life,
faith is the best of companions;
it is the best refreshment on the journey;
and it is the greatest property.”
~ Buddha

“Faith is a knowledge within the heart,
beyond the reach of proof.”
“Faith is an oasis in the heart which can never be reached by the caravan of thinking”
~ Khalil Gibran

“The heart has its reasons that reason does not know.”
“Faith is different from proof;
the latter is human, the former is a Gift from God.”
“Faith embraces many truths which seem to contradict each other.”
~ Blaise Pascal

“The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. …
To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.”
~ Albert Einstein

“Faith is much better than belief.
Belief is when someone else does the thinking.”
~ Buckminster Fuller

“Faith means living with uncertainty –
feeling your way through life,
letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark”
~ Dan Millman

“My faith runs so very much faster than my reason that I can challenge the whole world and say, ’God is, was and ever shall be’.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

“This above all, to thy own Self be true.”
~ William Shakespeare

“The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!”
~ Swami Vivekananda

“Faith is a light of such supreme brilliance that it dazzles the mind and darkens all its visions of other realities,
but in the end when we become used to the new light, we gain a new view of all reality transfigured and elevated in the light itself.”
~ Thomas Merton

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed,
you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there” and it will move.”
~ Matthew 17:20

Ron’s Commentary on Mystical Faith.
Dear Friends,
In reviewing and revising previous SillySutras postings, as preparation for ebook publication of memoirs and other postings, I’ve been wondering about the subtle circumstances which have seemed most important in furthering my spiritual evolution from age forty two to age eighty four.
Forty two years ago, I was self-identifying as an uptight and unhappy middle-aged secular litigation lawyer on the brink of divorce, when I had an unforgettable “out of body” experience [OOB] which sparked four decades of spiritual exploration and evolution – so far.
Now I mostly self-identify as eternal spirit enjoying a brief “in a body experience” as an 84 year old retired lawyer and spiritual writer. And I feel blessed with great happiness and gratitude for this precious fleeting lifetime, despite its inevitable ups and downs.
In wondering why this has happened, I’ve decided that continuing deep faith in the mystical mystery of Divinity has been crucial to my spiritual opening with ever increasing happiness. Previously, I have explained in essays how “I’ve Found A Faith-Based Life” and defined faith as distinguished from belief.
Today I have posted the foregoing profound quotations about faith to help inspire us. Please read and reflect on them.
Also I’ve embedded hereafter a beautiful youtube video performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s inspiring song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as excerpted from the film version of their classical musical play “Carousel”. The emotions we feel from that performance can also help inspire our deep realization that with faith and hope in our heart we’ll never walk alone.
And so may it be!
Ron RattnerRodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from “Carousel”.